MMA You Want to Watch This Week: July 18 - July 24

I know that all of you had sensed that something is special about this week, but you didn't really know what it was.  Well, fear not!  You're not crazy!  You've just felt the happy feelings associated with Beth and Donna's birthday week!  And, as a present, we have some actual MMA to watch!  Thanks Bellator and Strikeforce!  Too bad we'll be busy getting silly drunk seeing the sights in San Francisco to watch.  However, I have no doubt that our gentleman will fight valiently to impress the birthday girls.

Strikeforce Challengers 17
July 22nd (also known as the greatest day of the year)
11 PM ET/PT on Showtime

The fight I'm most excited about here is Sarah Kaufman vs. Liz Carmouche, though why this fight was put on a Challengers card is beyond me.  As an additional kick to the nuts, they don't even have top billing.  Shameful.  Liz is probably best known for her excellent showing, though eventual loss, against Marloes Coenen in March.  Kaufman is coming off of an April win against Megumi Yabushita.  Also on this card are Bobby Voelker vs. Roger Bowling, Lavar Johnson vs. Devin Cole, and Ovince St. Preux vs. Joe Cason.

Bellator 47
July 23rd
9 PM ET/PT on MTV2

The big fights of the night here are Pat Curran vs. Ronnie Mann and Nazareno Malegarie vs. Marlon Sandro, both of  are part of the feather weight tournament.  On ESPN's MMA Hot Button Topic of the Week, Jordan Breen and Josh Gross debate the winner of this summer's featherweight tournament.  Breen goes with Sandro while Gross takes Curran.  Both are fighters to watch, and I'm excited to see how both of these guys do this weekend.  Rounding out the televised card is a Heavyweight fight between Zak Jensen and Neil Grove and a lightweight bout between Chris Saunders and Chris Horodecki.